Brian Smith from the Liquor & Cannabis Board in Washington State discusses the fact that the state is in fact regulating cannabis like alcohol. We discuss the initial lottery and the ensuing HB 5052. Finally, Brian takes us through the post July 1, 2016 reality. Nevada native Andrew Jolley then joins us and discusses his family’s history in the state which harkens back further than most. He takes us through the overall economic picture and then dives in to the cannabis economy in Nevada. Andrew lets us know about some of the qualifying conditions as well as how reciprocity is in fact working regarding out of state cards and recommendations.

Transcript:

Speaker 2: Brian Smith and Andrew Jolley, Brian Smith from the liquor and Cannabis Board in Washington state discusses the fact that the state is in fact regulating cannabis like alcohol. We discussed the initial lottery and the ensuing hb 50 slash 50 to finally Brian takes us through the post July first 2016 reality, Nevada native Andrew Jolley then joins us and discusses his family sister in the state, which hearkens back further than most. He takes us through the overall economic picture and then dives in to the cannabis economy in Nevada. Andrew lets us know about some of the qualifying conditions as well as how reciprocity is in fact working regarding out of state cards and recommendations. Welcome to cannabis economy. I'm your host Seth Adler. Check us out on social with the handle can economy. That's two ends and the word economy. Andrew Jolley proceeded by Brian Smith.

Speaker 1: Okay. All right. So I am in the liquor and cannabis board of Washington state. Welcome Brian. Thank you so much for having me. Glad to guide you. Could make it so, uh, we, we, we definitely want to hear everything that you have to tell us. Um, you know, obviously there's that big day, July first 2016 that did happen and we kind of wanted to get your perspective on the before the day and the after. First we've got to establish what your role here is at the LCB. You're not necessarily a regulator in your own. Right, right, right. Me and myself, I'm the communications director here for the liquor control board. So we're the liquor and cannabis board is. We're known now now. Yeah, sure. Yeah. So we as an agency though are the regulator of marijuana in Washington state and what that means that we also licensed and we enforce the law.

Speaker 1: The board itself makes policy and that a liquor control board to liquor, liquor and cannabis board. That happened, I think. What was it in 2015? Yeah, late in 2015. So it's still, you know, it's still, you know, in the indesign geist it is as far as a kind of getting used to it. So, um, you know, as far as your desk, what are you most, you know, what are you dealing with most? What comes across your desk more often than not? I can tell you. Let's go back a little bit and talk about since I two passed in 2012 I five zero two is the initiative that basically legalized marijuana in Washington state and put us to work in setting up that system. Absolutely. Since that very first day, I mean it, it was a, a torrent of um, work that I do is like working with the media, working with we'll public forums all around the state.

Speaker 1: So talking with people that were already operating at that, he call it the black market or working in the medical system, which we would call the gray market and addressing a lot of their concerns and moving the system forward as we developed rules. And so a lot of what I would do is the communication through the website and the communication through the media and stuff going forward. So we've spoken a lot about the lottery system. Um, take us through what you've dealt with, what you've spoken about as far as the lottery system. Yeah, I mean, the lottery systems feels like ancient history now, so it does in Washington state for your listeners, which are probably all the way across the country. Sure. Um, you got to look at it that Washington and Colorado were pioneers that this didn't, this system of producing process in retailing marijuana, it didn't exist anywhere in the world.

Speaker 1: And so we had to sort of start from scratch and a lot of, a lot of people had ideas as to what that system should look like, but there are parameters in the law that established it. And what was interesting was, um, the initiative was written with based on the existing alcohol laws. And so our marijuana system looks a lot like, um, Washington's alcohol laws. And uh, so it was in the eyes of the initiative writer that the liquor board would be the appropriate agency to be able to move this forward. Got It. And so since then we began that process talking to other states and Colorado in particular, but we were moving in a different direction than Colorado was and we did not have any federal input at that time. We didn't know what the federal government was going to do. They could step in at any day and shut it down because it is a controlled one illegal substance, right.

Speaker 2: Brian Smith and Andrew Jolley, Brian Smith from the liquor and Cannabis Board in Washington state discusses the fact that the state is in fact regulating cannabis like alcohol. We discussed the initial lottery and the ensuing hb 50 slash 50 to finally Brian takes us through the post July first 2016 reality, Nevada native Andrew Jolley then joins us and discusses his family sister in the state, which hearkens back further than most. He takes us through the overall economic picture and then dives in to the cannabis economy in Nevada. Andrew lets us know about some of the qualifying conditions as well as how reciprocity is in fact working regarding out of state cards and recommendations. Welcome to cannabis economy. I'm your host Seth Adler. Check us out on social with the handle can economy. That's two ends and the word economy. Andrew Jolley proceeded by Brian Smith.

Speaker 1: Okay. All right. So I am in the liquor and cannabis board of Washington state. Welcome Brian. Thank you so much for having me. Glad to guide you. Could make it so, uh, we, we, we definitely want to hear everything that you have to tell us. Um, you know, obviously there's that big day, July first 2016 that did happen and we kind of wanted to get your perspective on the before the day and the after. First we've got to establish what your role here is at the LCB. You're not necessarily a regulator in your own. Right, right, right. Me and myself, I'm the communications director here for the liquor control board. So we're the liquor and cannabis board is. We're known now now. Yeah, sure. Yeah. So we as an agency though are the regulator of marijuana in Washington state and what that means that we also licensed and we enforce the law.

Speaker 1: The board itself makes policy and that a liquor control board to liquor, liquor and cannabis board. That happened, I think. What was it in 2015? Yeah, late in 2015. So it's still, you know, it's still, you know, in the indesign geist it is as far as a kind of getting used to it. So, um, you know, as far as your desk, what are you most, you know, what are you dealing with most? What comes across your desk more often than not? I can tell you. Let's go back a little bit and talk about since I two passed in 2012 I five zero two is the initiative that basically legalized marijuana in Washington state and put us to work in setting up that system. Absolutely. Since that very first day, I mean it, it was a, a torrent of um, work that I do is like working with the media, working with we'll public forums all around the state.

Speaker 1: So talking with people that were already operating at that, he call it the black market or working in the medical system, which we would call the gray market and addressing a lot of their concerns and moving the system forward as we developed rules. And so a lot of what I would do is the communication through the website and the communication through the media and stuff going forward. So we've spoken a lot about the lottery system. Um, take us through what you've dealt with, what you've spoken about as far as the lottery system. Yeah, I mean, the lottery systems feels like ancient history now, so it does in Washington state for your listeners, which are probably all the way across the country. Sure. Um, you got to look at it that Washington and Colorado were pioneers that this didn't, this system of producing process in retailing marijuana, it didn't exist anywhere in the world.

Speaker 1: And so we had to sort of start from scratch and a lot of, a lot of people had ideas as to what that system should look like, but there are parameters in the law that established it. And what was interesting was, um, the initiative was written with based on the existing alcohol laws. And so our marijuana system looks a lot like, um, Washington's alcohol laws. And uh, so it was in the eyes of the initiative writer that the liquor board would be the appropriate agency to be able to move this forward. Got It. And so since then we began that process talking to other states and Colorado in particular, but we were moving in a different direction than Colorado was and we did not have any federal input at that time. We didn't know what the federal government was going to do. They could step in at any day and shut it down because it is a controlled one illegal substance, right.

Speaker 1: I'm at the federal level, but they didn't for a long time. And so we knew that if we were going to do this and do it right, we had to establish a system that was going to last and that the federal government could potentially be, I'm okay with or at least let Washington and Colorado go forward as an experiment if not get behind, not get in front of. That's right. And so we were very conservative, I think, and what we did, and I'm, the law itself has some pretty strict investigatory stuff on criminal history and financial history and residential history to get a license. Um, our rules and stuff kind of reflected that as well. And so from those early days, um, we took a lot of input. We went around the state and we heard from a lot of people and people would turn out by the thousands, literally we would hold these hearings and people would come out and say, hey, there was a lot of fear then that it was going to be big companies.

Speaker 1: We're going to come in and take over the system. Big Marijuana, marijuana. Is that something you'd probably hear? But in what they were saying is that we want to keep Washington's cottage industry of small growers, all that stuff. And the board really to their credit, established a system that looks a lot like that. So our system is built right now. We've got well over a thousand producers and processors in Washington state. So small growers can't grow anything bigger than 30,000 square feet. I'm not too many of those and a lot of them over in eastern Washington where it's hotter and the girl outside, you know, you brought up the difference between you and Colorado differences being many. Uh, and you know, we could, if we start the list will never finish, but a one key difference was that they had a regulated medical market, um, by the state.

Speaker 1: Uh, you did not. We did not Washington system. That's what this July first deadline that you brought up, um, plays a lot into is because Washington had an unregulated market. There was nothing in law that established or allowed for storefronts where people would sell marijuana to medical patients or anyone with a card. And these stores proliferating across Washington. And at that time, you know, from where we're sitting here at the liquor board office, there was probably five within just a few block radius. They were all over up and down, western Washington in particular. And so ultimately the legislature, once the market was established for the recreational system, which it was the for at least a year now. And then the medical system came under a lot more scrutiny because you had stores that were following the rules that were licensed by the state and they pay taxes and they follow these tight regulations and all these security requirements, but they were competing with people across the street.

Speaker 1: Um, that was a medical system, but really in Washington state I'm cards were very easy to get and there was an awful lot of recreational users going through the medical system within the medical system. Absolutely. We called it was called the gray market in Washington, right? Sure. Yeah. Um, as far as that gray market and the end, the lotteries now, you know, kind of coupling the two questions together. Um, what was the approach, and again, communications guy, I understand it as, as you remember it or from your perspective, uh, what was the approach, uh, to the gray market regarding the lottery? What, what were the kinds of thoughts and conversations? So we didn't take the gray market into consideration. What we took into consideration was that we had to prevent diversion out of state. So in August of 2013 when the Department of Justice issued the Cole memo and it laid out there and forcement guidelines, things that they cared about and one of the things that they cared about in that list was diverting products out of state.

Speaker 1: That's it. And so we knew that we had to have a controlled market that was going to basically produce just enough amount of amount of marijuana to satisfy the customer base in Washington state. We had to try and find a sweet spot for that and that is what we did. And so there was a finite number of stores that were going to be established that was going to meet that need around the state. And at the time it came up with 334 and we opened it up to anyone that would be able to meet the criteria to get a license. And we opened up a window to be able to do that. And it was those people that went through and when we had more people that had applied for a license than there were stores available in that community. Say for example, here in Olympia, we had, I think maybe eight stores that were available, but maybe you know, 20 applicants, we put those people through a lottery to see who would be able to get it now that changed a lot in the next year or two when the legislature passed Senate bill five, zero five to 50 slash 50 to 50 52 and what that building was, it established a merit based system for those, um, that were in the system to try and move over so that they would shut down the medical system as it did and have everyone go through a retail store.

Speaker 1: Those that were newly in the system, not the old grey medical guys. Yeah, let's, like anything else. They just established a merit based system for anyone that would apply going forward. And so we would prioritize them based on that. And what we found was there was enough priority ones to be able to satisfy the 222 additional stores that we were going to add. Um, the vast majority of them were priority three, which is they didn't meet any or um, just some of the qualifications. A couple of the key priority ones didn't make it through. Um, what might have happened with, you know, with those two priority threes. Got It. Priority twos. Got It. As far as the priority ones, you know, who had, you know, merit, who didn't make it through what, what do you think, what, what went on there, do you think? For the, for the most part, when we hit the 222 stores, we were doing lean down to whoever was left.

Speaker 1: What you get is a lot of people that complain that say they should've been a priority one, but the facts didn't bear out to that and we had a lot of stuff where people would call up and then call the media and they call us and they say I'm a good actor and a donald. The stuff, he'd go back and you look and see. We didn't have a history of paying any taxes or meeting some of these other things. So there's an awful lot of rumors and a lot of people that will come out and say that they have something, but when it comes down to the facts and proving it, you know, it didn't always bear out. Got It. I don't know if that one case in particular, a new PRC, John Davis. I don't know how familiar names here about him all the time.

Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah. John is out there a lot. What I'm [inaudible] he didn't make it through and I wonder, I mean, do you have knowledge of it personally or you know, I've met John Davis and um, we've been in the same news stories where he's talking about us and we're talking about our system and so, and you know, it seems that all right fellow. But he did that. It's just something that he felt I did. I'm not familiar with exactly what his story was on his license. And so I'm not saying, but there was an awful lot of that talk that, that I'm a good actor and I'm better than that next guy. Well, the law says this is what the merit based is. And you either meet it or you don't. Right. Okay. All right. Um, yeah, because as far as merit based, I believe he was a, uh, in that first group.

Speaker 1: But, uh, whatever. This is one guy, we're talking about a whole system here. Um, as far as, uh, these, these charts and graphs that I see, I feel like we should talk about, uh, uh, the, uh, average price per gain sold or uh, you know, the average daily sales growth because the average daily sales growth is going up. It is, it is. I mean, if you look at Washington system, it's, it's working. And if you look at it at the, the tax projections that the legislature had, it's expected to make one point 5 billion over five years in taxes. And they adjust that quarterly and every quarter the revenue has exceeded what they had projected. But even with the Washington's high tax, it's got a 37 percent excise tax on the average price per gram is below $9. And when we started this, the, the price on the street average price in the street for Graham was 10 bucks.

Speaker 1: Ten, 11, 12 bucks, same thing sort of in the gray market, you know, um, as Washington's prices dropped and they began to plummet, really, um, it drove down prices everywhere and it drove it down to the black market and it drove it down on the gray market. And now since July first, which is when the medical system aligned with the recreational system and you have just a, all the dispensaries in Washington are closed and so people have a lot more opportunity, I guess, to go into a retail store where you have a variety and you know, it's tested. Yeah, no, absolutely. And I know there was some catch up that had to happen as far as product still catching up as far as medical product for medical patients. Um, I know that a dispensary is had to put their bud tenders through a program to make sure that they were certified, which I think is fantastic.

Speaker 1: Um, you know, I come from a position of safe patient access no matter what. Okay. Um, so, you know, so we've got that going as far as the excise tax, when you add that to state and local, you're up near 50 percent. Um, is, is there any talk on uh, perhaps um, a lessening that excise tax to, to just take some of the, uh, take some of the pain off the patients? Um, well if the patients, if you have an authorization, you get to avoid the local retail sales tax, but you still would pay the excise tax? Yes. There is talk in the legislature of lowering the excise tax. Is it going to pass? I don't know that it does come up. A lot of times they talk about dropping excise tax and I just for medical patients, but to make deeper roads into the black market.

Speaker 1: So they go one more time. Yeah. Well there's talk of me that make deeper roads. That means if you sell it cheaper, you know, more people will make that choice to not buy it in the black market and go into retail store. But to be honest at those types of prices, I don't know why people would continue to make choices of buying it from someone on the street when they could go into a store and have a variety of stuff that's tested that's completely tested. That's exactly right. I know that you're on top of some of the pesticide stuff and testing that, that, uh, that is in the ether here. What, what are we talking about and what are we, what are we going to accomplish ultimately? Yeah. What of the things into the 50 slash 52. And the regulations that were established by the State Department of Health was to have, um, medical products or things that are deemed medical grade to go through a more stringent testing process, one of which is going to be for pesticides.

Speaker 1: Now it's difficult to test for pesticides and not all of the labs in Washington are equipped to do that. Um, I think in some cases too, there are some growers that may be applying pesticides that they should not. And they're a little afraid that that's going to go through a test and they're going to fail. And they're going to lose that product that they created. So there's been slow movement, I think through that testing procedure. However, patients are buying through the regular retail channels and buying a lot of it. In fact, about 70 percent of all marijuana purchased by medical patients is usable marijuana or marijuana use smoke. Uh, I should have mentioned at the top that we don't have a lot of time. So, uh, I'm going to kind of round it down here. As far as the LCB, what would you say your approaches to this whole thing, you know, as the communications guy, how, what should we understand from the LCB?

Speaker 1: You know, we've had a very open mind and took this on as a big responsibility from the very beginning. Um, I think a lot of people look at the liquor board as a regulator and stuff. And there's fear there. There's a lot of rumor and some paranoia, you know. But I think that to the board's credit, to everyone here at the agency, there's a lot of smart people that have been working very hard, very, very hard on this for the last few years. And we've been open and transparent as we can and we listened. And so I think that people talk a lot about the rules changing. Well, we're creating something that has never existed before and there are some things that we have to learn as we go and a lot of times we're making changes because we're hearing from folks within the industry that they want to see these types of changes along the way and we try and accommodate that one. We can. There we go. Regulated market, safe patient access. That's what we're trying to do. That's what we're doing. Good. Final question for you. I always ask this on the soundtrack of your life named one track one song that's got to be on there. Oh. Um, I don't live today by Jimi Hendrix. I was like, wow, that puts us closer together. It's right. Does Brian? Thank you so much. Thank you.

Speaker 3: This episode is also supported by incredibles. By medically correct. Medically correct. Producers of incredibles are focused on quality and consistency because they want you to rely on the product medicinally. They see you as receiving the direct benefit of their medicinal mindset. Whether taking incredibles for qualifying condition or doing so recreationally, either way medically correct, knows that you're getting therapeutic value from incredibles, Colorado based incredibles are now available in a growing list of locations. If you're looking for high quality, consistent infused cannabis products and extracts go to. I love incredibles.com. All right, so we've got Andrew Jolley, Andrew Jolley on the ground in Nevada. Is that right? Yes. Okay. And I'm pronouncing Nevada correctly if I'm not mistaken. Great Job for a New Yorker. I've, uh, I've been corrected and corrected and corrected and now I think each time I do pronounce it Nevada. Now, are you from Nevada? It's,

Speaker 4: I am, yes. I'm actually third generation Nevadan. Born and raised in Las Vegas, graduated from public high school here. Uh, I left to go to college and I was gone for 15 years and moved back about eight or nine years ago. All right. So for most of the time it's been Nevada. What is it like as a kid growing up there? Because I think, you know, you, you, uh, you've already outed me as being from New York, which, uh, which folks know I guess, but, um, you know, I think most people just think about Las Vegas. You were, how far away from Las Vegas did you grow up? I was about 10 miles from the Strip and growing up here is surprisingly normal. You once you get off the strip, it's a, just a normal city. And so, um, we lived initially we lived downtown and when I was seven, moved out a little bit to the outskirts of town, which now ironically is kind of the middle of town.

Speaker 4: I've had so much growth over the years, but you know, we lived out in a suburban neighborhood and we rode bikes and skateboards and blew things up and built fires and had all kinds of fun, gotten all kinds of trouble. Sure. And so if you're from a, you know, Las Vegas, uh, very few people are. Were your parents also born there or were they the ones that moved there? So both of my grandparents on both sides move to Las Vegas in the early fifties. My grandfather on my dad's side moved here from La. He was in the construction industry and so my dad came here when he was four or five years old. My mom was actually born here. Okay. All right. And what was the other side? What was the nature of business from the other side of the family there? My Mom's dad was in the car industry.

Speaker 4: He owned car dealerships and moved around as a young kid. He lived in Utah for awhile, northern Nevada for awhile. Then Las Vegas early on in his life. Okay. And so the, the fifties, I mean this is like the Bugsy Siegel kind of. We're gonna build the Flamingo. We're gonna make this a town type of thing. They came at the beginning of what Las Vegas became, I guess, right? Yeah, very much in the early days. In the early fifties, I think the population here in the valley was around 40 or 50,000 people. When I was in high school it was 400,000 plus and now we're over $2 million. We have about two point $2 million here in the southern Nevada area. Las Vegas Valley,

Speaker 5: that's what we call hockey stick growth. Yeah. Andrew. Right. All right. So, uh, you know, regular kind of a, a life is, as you say, um, you know, you wouldn't have known that you were near Las Vegas unless someone told you

Speaker 4: type of deal. Right? Yeah. I mean we were, we were in the desert, you know, and so we were, we were building forts, we were riding our bikes around who rode motorcycles and all that fun stuff. But yeah, you know, aside from that, you know, the strip isn't um, a big part of most locals lives, although we do take advantage of having good restaurants and shows occasionally and that kind of thing and we have to entertain our friends and family when they're in town. But other than that, is it local? At least for me it was just, you know, a part of the city that we would go to occasionally, but not all the time. Got It. And then where did you go to school? I did my Undergrad at Brigham Young University in Utah and I went to graduate school at Asu in Phoenix. Okay. Alright.

Speaker 5: So bringing young known for, uh, the football but really known for the quarterbacks, great quarterbacks out of it.

Speaker 4: Brigham Young, right. You know, it's funny. I'm not a huge football guy. And the um, the starting quarterback lived upstairs for me for about a year when I was there and I, and I'm ashamed to admit that I never went to a single football game during my tenure at Byu, but yeah, very good program there and they've certainly produced a lot of good quarterbacks over the years. What, uh, what were you doing if it wasn't football at Byu? I'm really into skiing and snowboarding and those kinds of sports. And so, um, I started the, a snowboard and ski club there and we had 1500 members and, and so I tried to arrange my classes so that I could get up on the slopes as much as possible.

Speaker 5: Fantastic. Okay. So we're, we're noticing leadership, right? Uh, right there at the beginning. Um, when I study I just wanted a free season pass to be honest with you, but thanks for the compliment. Fair enough. What, uh, what were you studying?

Speaker 4: I studied business administration with an emphasis in, in technology and I ended up going back to school after a career in software development and it consulting and did an Mba at Asu and did it dual master's program where I also studied information systems and have a dual master's degree in information systems as well.

Speaker 5: Okay. So, uh, Asu Sun devils if I'm not mistaken. Correct. Okay. And what, what does, what did this, all of this studying of tech,

Speaker 4: did you get you? It was a great background for my career. I think there were a lot of good fundamentals there and you know, I got married fairly young and started having children and I was traveling a lot for work in that career and I decided it was work. Yeah. What, where were you working? What were you doing? Yeah, I was working for a um, it, um, and business consulting company called Sapient based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and very big and yeah, so I really enjoyed that as a fantastic company but fairly demanding. I was working a lot of hours and traveling 60, 70 percent of the time. And so while I was in graduate school at Asu, I started dabbling in some real estate investments and doing some small development. And so after business school I decided to pursue a career in real estate and I've been doing that quote unquote as my day job since then. So today, um, I'm a part owner of a finance company, a real estate finance company and an investment company and a couple other ancillary businesses.

Speaker 5: Are you, one of the guys that the most recent downturn, um, you know, affected real estate, um, and we have in this industry many real estate guys because of the timing of both the downturn. And then, uh, the, the federal kind of a view on cannabis

Speaker 4: [inaudible] is, are you one of those folks? Sort of. So we actually started our company aquasource to take advantage of the downturn. So that company that we started in 2008 was designed to buy distressed debt, collateralized by commercial real estate. So we had a very specific niche still do. And so we were purchasing loans from the FDC, from banks for special servicers and from the courts through the court system. And we're essentially working out the problems, the fallout from the real estate collapse, so we specialize in buying loans that were secured by shopping centers, apartments, hotels, and that kind of thing.

Speaker 5: Well, so now if, if you don't mind me diving in here, I remember that I'm lending, uh, was, uh, we're borrowing was impossible at that point. So, um, that's a fascinating business model. But how were you able to make it work at that point in time? Being that a lending just wasn't happening?

Speaker 4: Good question. It was a combination of our own money, my partner Steve Byrne and I as well as a small amount of investor money and some debt. We were able to secure financing both from private lenders and from a very small list of banks who would finance us on our purchases.

Speaker 5: Interesting. Okay. So you kind of cut and pasted the money together to make the business model work. Um, it sounds like you're still doing it, but, uh, out of those kind of really tough years, what was your takeaway? You know, and now that we're kind of a above water here, um, you know, you had a very specific vantage point on that downturn. W what did you take away

Speaker 4: overleverage avoid it. Um, and, and even then some of the problems we encountered, especially here in Nevada where there was a complete meltdown in the real estate industry, um, avoid being overlevered, you know, and, and you'll be able to weather, weather the storms. I also learned that when there are downturns in the economy, there are always opportunities and we were very, very fortunate to be in a position to not have the kinds of problems that other developers and investors had. So we didn't have to spend our time sorting out problems. We spend our time focusing on opportunities and um, that was a very exciting time and it was a, it was rewarding and uh, we were very fortunate to be the right place at the right time for what we did.

Speaker 5: Yeah, it is. You know, obviously a global economy is an extremely complex thing. Um, but, but is, is that just, it, is it as simple as kind of conceiving the point that whether you are a municipality or a company or a person, I'm over leverage is the enemy and if you are not overlevered, uh, you, you, you, you might just be in the clear, is it as simple as that

Speaker 4: leverage is your best friend and a rising economy and your worst enemy in a declining market. So it's a, it's a double edged sword. It's allowed a lot of small people and small investors to have big wins, but it's also taken down. I'm very, very big players. I mean, you know, here locally we have Caesar's entertainment, one of the largest casino companies in the world going through bankruptcy right now because they became overlevered, uh, during the, the boom proceeding be the collapse. And I think it's a, it's kind of a universal thing. So it's, you know, I think leverage has a place, I mean we own a lending company, but it just needs to be done appropriately and strategically and not, um, to the point where it, it chokes out the company and chokes out cashflow. Sure.

Speaker 5: Okay. Well then let's, uh, you know, kind of figure out this final point here in this part of the conversation through Caesar's and you mentioned that, uh, uh, Nevada, Las Vegas specifically got hit a real estate wise just far worse than, than almost any other place at least in the United States. Um, and so your recovery has been obviously a slower. And so it's interesting to hear that a company the size of a caesars is now in bankruptcy. Um, it, it seems to, you know, an uneducated mind like mine that, that would have happened many years ago, four years ago, six years ago, eight years ago. Um, take us through a really what, uh, what, what it is in Nevada, what it is in Las Vegas right now as far as the general economy, you know, where are you guys

Speaker 4: overall things are looking up here and the economy has rebounded significantly and I would say all facets of the real estate industry, residential, commercial have pretty well stabilized. The gaming companies are doing better and most of them as I understand it, are, are profitable and at a much healthier position than they were three or four or five years ago. So overall, there's a lot of optimism here. We've seen a lot of positive growth in the economy, a lot of new job creation here. Tesla announced a $5,000,000,000 factory that they're building in northern Nevada, near Reno. And congratulations on that. Yeah, thank you. Big News. Yeah. Yeah. Or our governor, um, played a big part in that and helped secure that company and that arrangement. And we have, you know, fair day a, uh, a new electric car manufacturer. I'm looking at building a plant here in southern Nevada and a couple of mothballed casino projects that are coming back to life. And overall I think there's just a lot of optimism here, uh, regarding the, the economy and where things are headed

Speaker 5: and just to, to again close the loop then. Is caesars caesars thing why, why they're in bankruptcy now or is there a, a bigger thing at play?

Speaker 4: You know, I'm not an expert, I have to admit seth in, in their history of their bankruptcy and their, their finances, but my, my general understanding is that, um, they, they took on a lot of debt and they were barely covering their debt service for a long time and I think they got to the point where they kind of had a may make a decision about whether to restructure that debt and negotiate with their bond holders or continue essentially with flat growth. And, and so they made the decision to go ahead and go through the bankruptcy process, which has been ongoing for, I don't know, a year or two now. Right.

Speaker 5: So a, a, a casino company going into bankruptcy. I feel like I've heard about that.

Speaker 4: Yeah, sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Speaker 5: It does. It does. But we're not here to talk about that. Uh, you know, uh, we'll come back to your kind of timeline, but let's jump into where you are in, in cannabis now. Um, you know, we are all looking at Nevada. Uh, yes as a medical market and potentially as an adult use market, which we will get to. But, um, as a medical market, just let's describe your operation. Um, as it stands today,

Speaker 4: we have five licenses to dispensary's to cultivation licenses and a production license production is the license that allows you to manufacturer infused products like edibles or vapor cartridges or whatever. And we have one dispensary that's up and running today. It opened December 10th of last year. Our cultivation and production facility, our first one, our indoor grow is up and running and has been since last October and we've completed construction on another growth facility, but we are waiting to start operations there. And finally our Henderson dispensary a Henderson is a local, uh, town adjacent to Las Vegas. Here is about to open in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 5: Okay. So a couple key questions as far as your grows or those indoor or are they a greenhouse?

Speaker 4: So our grow that's operating today is indoor and we have a second grow facility that will be greenhouse that is finished with construction, but we are delaying. I'm turning on the light so to speak and operating that until the market catches up with a. and we have more demand here. Yeah.

Speaker 5: The market. Yeah. That is a literally supply and demand economics 101. There you go. So as far as the dispensary is concerned, let's run through the qualifying conditions that you're seeing at the uh, um, you know that the bud tenders are seeing understanding that you are not able to gender.

Speaker 4: Yeah. So Nevada has eight or nine qualifying conditions. The vast majority of patients qualify under a severe pain and kind of make sense. I mean, it's hard to think of a, an ailment or health issue that doesn't involve pain at some level and it's also fairly subjective. So when you're going to a doctor, you know, it's, it's a lot less, uh, I think it's a lot easier to, to discuss then say glaucoma, which is another qualifying condition, but as a very specific diagnosis. So yeah, most people I would say I don't know 80 percent of the patients and in Nevada qualify under severe pain, but there are a number of qualifying conditions such as a cochlea, wasting diseases, HIV, AIDS, cancer, Glaucoma, and several other qualifying conditions.

Speaker 5: Great. And uh, initial feedback, um, from, uh, from the front lines, you know, what can you tell us the patients are telling, you know, your organization

Speaker 4: feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and the patients are amazing. People there are, having dispensary's up and running in Nevada has allowed people who are previously purchasing in the black market or in many cases not considering medical marijuana as an alternative treatment to come out of the woodwork, come out of the black market and into a legal regulated market where they can learn about the products that they're using. They can inspect testing results, the products that they're buying. They can talk to informed patient advisors as we call them or bud tenders about different options. We have probably 130 plus Sku's, different products in our dispensary and so the options for patients are just much, much larger than they were a year ago. And, and so patients are ecstatic and we hear a lot of, a lot of great things from them. So. Great.

Speaker 5: That is great. That is great news. Thank you for doing the work. Obviously the whole thing is about safe patient access. So I'm so fantastic. As far as a reciprocity, I, I'd love for you to dive in on that. What I was able to kind of experience for myself. I was in a dispensary. I'm one of the first dispensary that opened up in Nevada and uh, uh, a Nevada resident within Nevada license came in with a, a California card. And so the dispensary unfortunately had to turn that person away because a California card can come with a California license and Nevada license has to come within Nevada card. So yes, there's Ross reciprocity, but it's not through and through. What can you help me with? What I mean,

Speaker 4: sure, I can try. So no, that was the first state in the country to develop this concept of reciprocity, the ability to sell to out of state patients. Um, Hawaii has since adopted that same concept, but my understanding is they haven't implemented that yet. I think that's about to begin the beginning of next year. So we were a little bit in uncharted territory with regards to the concept of reciprocity. The intent, as I understand it, having spoken with the legislators who wrote that bill and who sponsored and cosponsor that bill was to basically say if a medical marijuana patient qualifies in the state that they're visiting from, they would qualify in Nevada. That's the, that's the underlying concept. But you know, this is a new program. We have new regulators who are the health department here and new industry folks. And so the details of how reciprocity has worked have been slightly problematic along the way and there's been differences of opinion. But the idea is that if somebody is visiting here from California or has a California recommendation or card, the idea is that they should be able to purchase here in Nevada and same with all of the other 23 odd states that allow medical marijuana.

Speaker 5: Okay. So, uh, that is, uh, you know, when, when we say card, we're talking about a medical card. So that is a, that sets a, the table as far as the medical program is concerned. I want to get to adult use. But first I want to go back to your timeline. Uh, pick it up. Um, you know, um, at the, uh, at the real estate shop that you guys had started and you had a very unique business model. When did cannabis occur to you as a business?

Speaker 4: Well, it occurred to me a long time ago. Alright. I lost one of my closest friends to an accidental prescription drug overdose in 2001. It's already here. That. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, he was a, it was tough. Uh, he's a super close friend. I had known since I was eight or nine years old. Um, he had some severe health conditions and severe systemic pain that he was trying to deal with and he went to California to use medical cannabis in California and had problems finding it in, in Nevada. And so when he moved back here to Las Vegas, he went to a pain doctor who prescribed him a methadone, I believe it wasn't a heroin addict or any. He didn't have any other drug, you know, issues that I was aware of at least. And he took half the prescribed dose the very first time and I fell asleep and his lungs filled up with liquids and he died in asleep next to his wife and three year old daughter.

Speaker 4: Oh my God. And that was a wake up call for me, you know, this was a, this was a 29 year old kid who wanted to treat with cannabis and had been doing so successfully in California, but didn't really have all of those options available to them. That was right when Nevada was starting to allow medical cannabis. We were fairly early in our adoption, but 2001 is when it started and you had to grow at home and it was unrealistic for a lot of people who couldn't or wasn't, weren't able to grow in their own primary residence. And so yeah, you also have to be good at it, but whatever. Yeah, exactly. I believe he was living with his mom at the time too. So I mean that wasn't a, that was not a realistic option. But anyway, that that's when it first occurred to me that, oh my gosh, there's gotTa be other alternatives.

Speaker 4: This is, this is ridiculous that we're, we are pumping people full of prescription drugs without offering them a natural alternative. And so that's when I first started thinking about it, but I didn't, didn't do anything about it until 2013 when Nevada passed a law. SB three 74 that allowed dispensary's and other medical licenses to open up in the state prior to that, we had allowed medical use. But as I, as I mentioned, you had to grow at home. And so, uh, that's when my partner, Steve and I really started educating ourselves and becoming informed about the industry and about the business and really thinking about whether or not it was something that we wanted to get into. So like a lot of people, we went to Colorado and California and Arizona and other places and talk to a lot of operators and did a lot of research and within a few months decided it was something we wanted to pursue. There was no application process outlined at the time. There were a lot of unknowns, but we had some idea of how the program would operate. And so we felt that we were qualified and that we were, I'm very interested in being a part of this new niche industry and really believe that cannabis can help a lot of people. And so that's where it all started.

Speaker 5: Yeah, that's amazing. It, um, it, it's funny because a real estate wasn't your entry point. It, we usually get two kinds of stories from folks that have been operating since 2013 or before a one is through the downturn, you know, in their current, you know, at, at the time their current, uh, industry, whatever. It was more often than not real estate. And then the other one is through a patient story like yours, like your friends. Um, so, uh, okay, great. There wasn't a, there wasn't the, you know, you realize that there was an opportunity when, when did we start to apply and all that. How long did it take from the moment that you were allowed, if you will, to, uh, to begin the process, um, to, uh, to gaining that license.

Speaker 4: So the bill was signed by our governor and the summer of 2013. The application process started in the spring of 14 and that lasted through August of 2014. And in November of 2014 the state issued or awarded the licenses. We were fortunate enough to get the licenses that we applied for. And so then we started the process of designing our facilities, getting construction bids, and going through the construction and startup process. And so for us, that lasted about a year and so we opened up our cultivation in roughly October of 15. We opened up our dispensary, our first location in December of 15, and as I mentioned earlier about to open up our second location here just in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 5: There you go. Alright. So that brings us up to, uh, uh, to the current and actually a little bit into the future. Let's go further into the future. Let's talk about November. Here we go. So we've got a ballot initiative in Nevada. Um, we, uh, everybody knows that there's one guy that could probably be against this thing. I'm so here, let's talk about it first. Um, as far as your role, I know you don't have an official role with the campaign, but take us through what you're doing.

Speaker 4: I strongly believe in decriminalization of marijuana across the board, especially here in my own backyard. And so I am personally committed to doing everything I can to help the ballot measure passed this November and as you mentioned, I don't have an official role with the campaign, but I am involved with those who are running the campaign and helping them to raise money and to um, do everything we can to get the vote out and to help this pass. And so yesterday as an example, we had an event with mostly industry people and some elected officials. We had 200 people show up and we're able to, to raise some money for the initiative and um, you know, there's a lot of other strategies and things that we can all do to help help turn out the vote this November and we're all just doing everything we can to help it pass.

Speaker 5: Alright. So first things first, a, a website or a place folks can go to, to donate to that campaign if they so choose.

Speaker 4: Absolutely. The campaign is called the coalition to regulate marijuana like alcohol. And if you'll give me one second, I will.

Speaker 5: Yeah, I sprung it on you. I figured you. I think you were figuring, I would ask you for this at the end, which I will again, but uh, you know, uh, as far as a Nevada, we've heard from Steve Fox referred from a MPP, MPP and, and others that, uh, if there's one initiative that does need to, that does need help. It's definitely Nevada, Arizona and Massachusetts, but also beyond that list. Um, but you know, as far as where we can go, where would that be?

Speaker 4: The website is regulate marijuana in Nevada.org. And again, that's, that's a yes on question to regulate marijuana. Like alcohol is the name of the campaign and as you mentioned Steve Fox, Sean Sinclair, Scott Rutledge and those folks are spearheading that initiative.

Speaker 5: Great. Uh, it's a nice long url for you. So we'll, we'll come back and mentioned that one again. But um, but as, as far as the campaign is concerned, what's the current state of affairs? How, how's it polling?

Speaker 4: It's polling but we don't have a huge margin of error or a huge cushion. So depending on the poll, it's tracking between 51 and 60 percent in favor and somewhere around 40 to 45 percent against, and you have, depending on the poll, a decent number of undecided voters. And that's why, as you mentioned, it's so critical that we help spread the word to help inform those, those mothers and those other folks who are still not sure how they feel about legalized marijuana, to understand that we can learn a lot from places like Colorado who have already been through this and to see that no, the world does not end. In fact, all of the things that the fearmonger say are going to happen. The opposite has actually happened. So, um, it underscores, you know, the need to, to help the undecided voters become informed on this, uh, issue and hopefully make the right call.

Speaker 5: Absolutely. And as far as kind of changing hearts and minds, I feel like we're, we're, uh, preaching to the converted here. Uh, let's talk about the, uh, you know, let's talk about the First Amendment, uh, and, and the freedom of the press in Nevada. What, uh, what's going on there with, uh, with your newspaper?

Speaker 4: Well, I feel like there's a little bit behind that question there, seth. Yeah, you've done your research. My friends. So we essentially, we have two newspapers here in Nevada, but only one of them is in daily print and that's the review journal and a few months ago that was purchased by a, uh, by Sheldon Adelson who owns a sands corporation, uh, for $140,000,000. And uh, I think that the timing was no coincidence. I think he knew exactly what he was doing and um, you know, uh, since that time there's been a lot of fallout at the newspaper, a lot of the editors and writers have left and it's clear to me that his intention is to change what was historically a long history of support of marijuana issues and reverse that from the newspapers. So I think you're, you're seeing that, that transformation of the culture of the newspaper right now.

Speaker 5: All right, so that's one piece. What about the other piece, which is him just, you know, kind of, uh, writing a big check. Uh, that is something that's been anticipated for months. Has Anything happened? Has anything been in toned

Speaker 4: so far? No. Fingers crossed. Hopefully this is a fight that he sees as a losing fight and not worth the effort or the money. I really hope that's what he and others who want to continue to ban and keep a marijuana. I'm under prohibition feel like I'm so, he hasn't written the check yet and he may do that. There's, I don't have any firsthand knowledge about his intentions in that regard, but it's something that we all fear and we need to be ready for if he does decide to help finance the, uh, the efforts against this, uh, initiative

Speaker 5: not to try to understand his mind. But, uh, let's unpack, um, what all of this is a meaning, you know, obviously he does own a large casino, a conglomerate, uh, he's got his own social, uh, proclivities, whatever they are. I'm taking your understanding of Nevada and Las Vegas as you know, an Oji. Um, why would a casino a guy like him not want legal cannabis? Let. That's the first question. And I definitely have a followup question.

Speaker 4: I don't have any firsthand knowledge, but what I can tell you my opinion of what I sort of asked before it just in, in kind of looking at this from my perspective, he has a personal issues with cannabis. He as I understand it, lost a child to a drug overdose years ago. And I, and as I understand it, he views a marijuana as a gateway drug and so

Speaker 5: because they didn't get, couldn't have been marijuana that his child and that. I'm sorry to hear that. I did not know that, but it couldn't have been cannabis that is over. His child overdosed on because you can't do that. But, uh, understood on his, uh, you know, approach go on.

Speaker 4: Correct. Yeah, I think it's, it's kind of the gateway issue that he has a problem with. His wife is a physician in bumped, but whatever. Go ahead. Exactly. Which is hilarious that, that this new announcement from the dea today specifically states that cannabis is not a gateway drug, but that's another discussion for another day. Perhaps indeed

Speaker 5: will come out a few weeks after today. But yeah, that, that was big news as well. Go on.

Speaker 4: Secondly, his wife is a doctor and they own some methadone clinics ironically, and so they're involved in, in drug addiction treatment and I think he's a, you know, generally a fairly conservative guy and these kinds of issues and for whatever reason has decided to uh, that, that cannabis is not his thing and he doesn't feel like people should have the choice whether or not to use cannabis for various treatments.

Speaker 5: Interesting. I didn't know about the methadone clinics. What I have heard anecdotally is that there's a perception that if there's legal cannabis in Nevada, people won't have as much fun or the type of fund that they're having in casinos. Um, have you heard that on the ground? Is there or is that just a nonsensical thing that I've heard?

Speaker 4: No, I've heard the same thing, but I don't think there's any real basis for it to be honest with you. I have many friends who are in the gaming industry and let's face it, cannabis is already in our community here. It's just in the black market, there were a hundred and 50 illegal delivery services, advertising online and delivering to customers of the casinos for years and if you look at certain online advertisers have dispensary's, you know, you have those have all been replaced with legal dispensary's now. And so we are taking our patients out of the black market into a legal regulated market with safer products. However, that hasn't happened yet as far as I can tell to the same degree in the tourism corridor. And the folks who wrote our laws knew that, that's why they introduced the concept of reciprocity. One of the cosponsors that bill is an extremely conservative guy, but I think he was a pragmatist.

Speaker 4: And so, um, the idea that that marijuana is not already in the casinos and in the, in the tourism corridor is a falsehood. It's already there. And I think that they need to, you know, I, I just don't buy the argument that people are going to use marijuana and not gamble or not eat or not go to shows or whatever. The reality is much different from that. And I think that there has been some perception that that's the motivator behind, um, Adelson's, uh, you know, a stance on marijuana, but I personally don't buy that. Okay.

Speaker 5: Interesting. All right. So we have hopefully debunked that. Uh, you know, you're, you're our Nevada guy. I mean, you grew up there, you're from there. No one's from there, very few of us natives. But there are, there are a few, there are a few. Exactly. All right. So, so as far as your gut, um, which, you know, a is a is its own thing, um, I guess we can't know if that check is written. It changes things dramatically. Um, as far as a money in the bank, uh, for the, uh, initiative, you know, how did we do at that fundraiser yesterday, how are we doing with our, you know, financial health,

Speaker 4: it was incredibly successful. And so the industry support has been slow to get off the ground in my opinion. And I think there's reasons for that. When you look at what are the reasons for that? Yeah. Well the industry is just getting off the. No one's making money yet. Uh, and so people don't have money, frankly, that they did prior to building out these facilities and the market is still growing here. So in Arizona, you, where you have three or four years of operations under their belt, I think the, the medical companies there are much,

Speaker 6: uh,

Speaker 4: more willing and able to write those checks for their legalization initiative in California of course has a long history of and they have, I think more money. So here in Nevada you've had all these companies essentially starting from scratch within the past year. So it's been a tough time for them to write checks to, to fund the initiative. But that's changing and we're seeing a lot of support, overwhelming support and we're seeing a lot of people in the community coming out of the woodwork and support. We had an announcement from about a dozen of our elected officials here in Nevada just a few weeks ago coming out publicly in support. And I've heard there are several more high profile politicians who plan on coming out and supporting the initiative here soon. So I think we're actually at a, at a, at a turning point, um, it's been, uh, a great well run campaigns so far, but I feel like in the last 30 to 60 days the momentum has really started to build and today as you and I are talking, we're 90 but actually 89 days away from the election and I see a lot of good things happening between now and election day.

Speaker 5: Okay. So hopefully some of those good things come in the way of folks visiting the very long website called what?

Speaker 4: Regulate marijuana in Nevada.org or you can just google regulate marijuana like alcohol and they'll take you right there.

Speaker 5: Look for the.org. Yeah, exactly. Um, I mean we've got to talk to the guy that came up with the website, but whatever. All right, cool. So I think we've got a really good sense of, uh, of where we are. Thank you for, for sharing your story. We've got our three final questions. I'll let you know what they are and then I'll ask you them in order. So, uh, the first question is, what has most surprised you in cannabis? The second question is, what has most surprised you in life? And the third question is on the soundtrack of Andrew John Lee's life named one track, one song that's got to be on there. So first things first, what has most surprised you in cannabis?

Speaker 4: The patient experience. I am floored every day when I hear patient's stories when they come into our dispensary and let's face it, some patients are there simply to purchase,

Speaker 6: um,

Speaker 4: cannabis and to use for their own purposes. And then on the other end of the spectrum, you have folks who are like one patient from two weeks ago in his seventh round of chemotherapy battling colon cancer. And I heard from yesterday from a paraplegic quadriplegic, excuse me, friend of mine who tried cbd products for the first time in his life and how it relaxed the muscle spasms in his legs and helped him to sleep better than he ever has since he had his accident about 15 years ago. So, you know, you hear all of these stories from the guy who simply just using this as a, a reason to access his medicines from the person who's literally life depends on access to cannabis. And to me that's been slightly unexpected, to be honest with you and, and unbelievably a motivating and I'm encouraging for me to hear their stories. Yeah.

Speaker 5: And, uh, you know, I'll, I'll add you, you mentioned the day that we're talking was a, or is when I'm a news came out that uh, yes, uh, cannabis will remain a schedule one substance, uh, due to the fact that there isn't enough research, essentially, I'm paraphrasing a on the same day, however, uh, the Obama administration, um, remove barriers for research of cannabis. So whereas it was only the University of Mississippi through night of that could, uh, grow and research cannabis or grow for research of cannabis, uh, that, uh, hopefully will mean many, many, many more, um, research facilities and more research. And uh, once that happens, then that changes, uh, you know, the first point being a schedule one. So, I mean, I, I feel like, uh, my opinion here is let's take the steps that need to be taken. Yes, of course it's not a schedule one drug, nor should it be a schedule one drug. Um, but let's, let's let the pace happen as the pace goes here. This is positive news as I see it. I, I'm not even asking you for your opinion, but go ahead and give it if you want it.

Speaker 4: I always have strong opinions. Just asked my wife. I'm just a right. Initially it was a bit of a shock and unexpected to see that the dea came back saying that they're going to leave it on schedule one, right? Uh, I would ask the dea why in the world the federal government patented cbd in 2003 if it has zero medical benefit, why the patent? I want to know the answer to that somebody like me in the eye and tell me that through the hassle of pulling one over on our country and our citizens and patenting cbd. If there is no known health benefit, I'd really like to understand that. And I'd really like to understand the second qualification for a schedule one drug, which is the highest propensity for abuse. I'd like someone to explain that to me as well because I see it as somebody on the front line to somebody that has seen this firsthand in my life.

Speaker 4: I, I honestly don't understand that stance at all. However, I completely agree with you. This is not all doom and gloom. In fact, there's some really positives that have come out of this discussion from the Dea, namely the fact that they're saying, well, there needs to be more research and I think that's an issue that everyone can, can agree with. There needs to be more research. So if we can lower the barriers to good a scientific study and research allow more universities and research institutions to grow. I'm not just Mississippi, you know, I think that's a positive step and I think we will work our way to a rescheduling and hopefully to drink decriminalization, but it's going to be a long road. And that's okay. Because the last thing I think those of us who are in industry want is for, you know, the large fortune 500 companies to jump in and to create this concept of big marijuana.

Speaker 4: That's certainly not the case today and I don't think any of us want that. Any business plans have been set up with the fact that it is a schedule one drug and I do see this as an opportunity to, to move from schedule one to dea scheduling based on, you know, what the research tells us so that you and me, we're on the same page. Fantastic. Honestly, how many people, how many people agree or disagree in the audience with us? Um, as far as life though, Andrew, what is, uh, what has most surprised you in life? I've never thought about that because I, my crystal ball must not work very well. You know, people have asked me, well, how did you plan this out? Or how did this workout for you? And, and the, and the, the, the reality for me is that life is about seizing opportunities and being nimble and at least it has been in my life. So I guess if I were to say what has surprised me most is, is that

Speaker 4: it's been a, you know, at least my career has been impossible for me to predict more than three or four years down the road and it's been rewarding and fulfilling every step of the way, but certainly 10 years ago would have never expected to be in the cannabis industry. But I'm so glad that I am and I am really happy for the opportunity to be part of this historic change that our society is currently going through. And I was talking to my daughters last night at dinner with my wife saying, you know, when you're my age, you're gonna look back and you might, you may say to yourselves, wasn't it cool that my dad was an early pioneer in the cannabis industry? And why in the hell was that ever illegal to begin with? Well, I mean, in your case, in terms of opportunity, thank goodness. Right. You know, that's right. Yeah. Um, and, and guess, uh, in terms

Speaker 5: of your overall answer, uh, you know, life's a journey, not a destination. I think I've heard you. I said thank you for summing that up for me better than I could. Well, it's not my line. Uh, and to that end, what is a, you know, on the soundtrack of your life, what is a one track one song that's got to be on there?

Speaker 4: Well, we've had a theme today, seth, and our discussion of, of Las Vegas, and so I have to give a shout out to a lifelong friend, Ronnie Vannucci, who's the drummer for a local band called the killers. I'll have to go with a killer song and say I'm on top. That's from there. A hot fuss album that, uh, that I really love. And uh, I, I know that in the longterm those of us who believe in cannabis will come out on top and it's a great song, great band from a bunch of great guys. So that'll be my, that's my answer.

Speaker 5: There you go. I, I, uh, I was anticipating that you might say Viva Las Vegas by a Elvis Presley, but that's only because I didn't know that the killers were from Nevada. That's right. You're a great local band. There you go. Alright. Andrew Jolley. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for giving us that website. One more time.

Speaker 2: very happy that I was able to, uh, you know, be within the walls of the liquor and cannabis board. We are regulating cannabis like alcohol in Washington state. It is a never perfect. But, um, hey, hopefully we're getting there. Andrew Jolley doing a good job in Nevada, a point to resources there. Thanks for listening.

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